North Korea to Send Olympic Athletes to South Korea, in Breakthrough
In talks held at the border village of Panmunjom, North Korean negotiators quickly accepted South Korea’s request to send a
large delegation to the Winter Olympics in Pyeongchang, South Korea, next month, according to South Korean news reports.
SEOUL, South Korea — North Korea agreed on Tuesday to send athletes to February’s Winter Olympics in South Korea, a symbolic
breakthrough after months of escalating tensions over the North’s rapidly advancing nuclear and missile programs.
While the focus of Tuesday’s talks was the Olympics, South Korean officials were also expected to explore whether
North Korea is interested in talks with the United States to ease tensions over its nuclear arms programs.
In Tuesday’s talks, South Korea also suggested that the two Korean teams march together during the opening ceremony of the
Olympics, Chun Hae-sung, the vice minister of unification, told reporters in Panmunjom after the morning’s negotiations.
8, 2018
North Korea has agreed to send athletes to the 2018 Winter Games in South Korea,
but the Olympics have long been a window into geopolitics between the two sides.
South Korea hopes that the talks at Panmunjom will lead to other moves to ease tensions, like temporary reunions
of elderly people in both Koreas who have been separated from family members since the Korean War.